Information Technology departments are often criticized for their lack of collaboration with other business departments. Is IT needed since technology equipment and software is a commodity? Everyone has access to buy equipment and software in the open market to help run their business electronically. But what you can’t buy in the open market is teamwork and collaboration. That comes from within the organization with people not with bits and bytes.
Mike Stiles, from Oracle, blogged about 5 Secrets to Marketing and IT Collaboration. The list includes “understanding the perspective of your peers” which is not something you can buy. Robert Thomas, of The Harvard Business review, calls collaboration an intangible asset.
For some workers collaboration comes natural. For others, it’s like pulling teeth! In my career I’ve learned three simple things about working together with others. I consider it a list of basics although it contains concepts that were not always apparent to me.
1. It’s not what you say, but how you say it that makes all the difference.
My goal is to talk in terms of ‘we’ and ‘us’ instead of “you’ and “I’ when working with others. Create a team feel from the onset of a conversation. Stay consistent.
About 16 years ago, during my first week of a new job, I sent an email to my new team members with some requests for information. I was working on a task from my new manager so it seemed harmless. But the email was not received well with others because it was filled with statements like “I need”, “I’ve been asked”, and “I will”. That’s not team friendly! Thankfully, a team member worked with me offline to explain how the message was received. Lesson learned.
2. When reporting a problem, communicate with the person directly before sending an email and copying multiple people.
An easy way to put co-workers on the defensive and irritate them is by copying their manager and several other people on a communication to complain about something that needs attention. I’ve seen this approach repeated hundreds of times in my career. I’ve been an observer, a reader, and an initiator.
About a year ago I errored by replying-all to an email that did this very thing with me. Someone was complaining about services not given to them from the team and copied several executives. By me replying to all and acting a little defensive I only exacerbated the problem. The good news is that I knew I had made a mistake as soon as I sent it. I called the recipient directly and apologized. It made a huge difference in reaching a solution.
In the book of Matthew (18:15) we find it written this way “”If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.”
3. Do you want to be part of the problem or part of the solution?
It’s easy to complain about something you see. But it takes a different level of commitment to offer solution ideas and to help solve the problem. A collaborative approach builds unity and teamwork, so offer to participate. Mike Stiles from Oracle recommends in his blog post, “Be the role model”. Be the one who reaches out to start communication. Be the one who offers to be part of the solution.
Here’s a good example: “We noticed that X is happening, can you help us to find out why” rather than “X is happening and your process to fix problems needs to change.”